GLAS

Geoscience Laser Altimeter System

Satellite

ICESat

Status

Operational – Utilised in the period 2003 to ~ 2009

Mission

Polar ice sheet thickness and topography. Also cloud top height and aerosol

Instrument type

Two-wavelengths lidar (532 and 1064 nm)

Scanning technique

Nadir-only viewing, sampling at 170 m intervals along track, near continuous profiling

Coverage/cycle

Global coverage in 183 d (orbit repeat cycle) leaving cross-track 2.5 km gaps at 80° latitude, 15 km at equator

Resolution

Horizontal: 66 m IFOV sampled at 170 m intervals along track. Vertical: 10 cm surface, 200 m cloud top

Resources

Mass: 298 kg - Power: 300 W - Data rate: 450 bps